Plugged In | 05.23.13 | (powered by iNACOL)

Final news from the neo-liberals from the inbox earlier today…

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PLUGGED IN  05.23.13 powered by iNACOL… New Releases… > Clayton Christensen Institute Is K-12 Blended Learning Disruptive? An introduction of the theory of hybrids > Learning Forward Seizing the Moment: State Lessons for Transforming Professional Learning News… Michigan’s charter options to grow Detroit News | Detroit, MI Thirty-two new charter schools plan to open this fall in Michigan, including three cyber academies as well as “blended-learning” schools in Novi and Beverly Hills, where charters are making their first appearance. The charter schools, which are publicly funded and open to all students, offer options that include (read) Texas Senate OKs expanding virtual course network Associated Press (TX) The Senate has approved a proposal to expand the state’s network of virtual school courses online and allow it to include more private courses. The measure cleared the House earlier this month. It passed the Senate 26-5 late Wednesday night, but with modifications that will send it back to the House. (read) Leadership in a Competency-Based System CompetencyWorks At what point did leading a school through a continuous improvement process become so confusing? In my educational leadership classes, I spent a great deal of time focusing on what leadership is and developing a philosophy that would guide me. I thought I had it all figured out. I learned the difference between first (read) Bill imposing one-year moratorium for online charter schools heads to Quinn for signature Beacon-News | Chicago, IL A yearlong moratorium on new online charter schools has passed the Illinois Senate and now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature. Bill sponsor state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, said Wednesday that she and other interested parties, including Illinois Superintendent of Schools Christopher Koch, have (read) School Ditches Textbooks for Open Educational Resources THE Journal The Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning in Texas is replacing textbooks with digital open educational resources (OER) for its math and science classes using iPads. The specialty high school in Texas recently implemented a 1:1 iPad initiative, and the OER pilot program is intended to help cut (read) Education technology gets $5 million boost News Journal | Wilmington, DE Delaware lawmakers crafting the state’s budget approved nearly $5 million Wednesday for education technology, answering calls from public school superintendents who argued last fall that schools are not keeping pace with testing demands and too few workers are available to service tech systems. The (read) Australian Study Points to Benefits of Games-Based Math Vander Ark on Innovation Recognition that “games can provide challenging experiences that incorporate effective learning principles and sustained engagement,” led Dr. Kristy Goodwin of Macquarie University to study what she calls Digital Games Based Learning (DGBL) as an emerging pedagogy. Goodwin reviewed deployment of (read) Online learning made easier for India’s school children ZDNet It’s that time of the year when examination results will be released in various parts of India. Time to rejoice for some and time for some to make bold career decisions ahead. Whether it is competitive exams or exams that affect important decisions of their careers, parents are always very concerned about the (read) Higher Ed in 2018 Inside Higher Ed Rising tuition, declining government subsidies, stagnant endowments, and increased competition are challenging higher education like never before. College and university leaders are struggling to understand where these changes will lead and how they can make higher education more affordable, more ( read) Making Open Education Easy: New Course Frameworks from Lumen Learning Offer Blueprints for Teaching with Open Educational Resources Press Release Lumen Learning and Instructure broke new ground for open education today with the introduction of six open course frameworks that make teaching with open content easier and more effective than ever before. Now freely available for anyone to access through the Canvas platform, these frameworks serve as (read) Something missing? Send news items and other information of interest to joglesby@inacol.org… Do you know someone who should be reading Plugged In? Please share the following link and ask them to subscribe: http://www.inacol.org/news/plugged-in/ - Thank you! Find out more about iNACOL and our mission on: Stay connected:

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Plugged In | 05.22.13 | (powered by iNACOL)

With these article notices already pre-set, I’ve had some busy blogging days this week. Now more news from the neo-liberals…

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PLUGGED IN  05.22.13 powered by iNACOL… News… Student Data Too Often a Tangled Web for Schools, Report Says Digital Education Schools are flooded with data these days, but students, parents, teachers, and administrators often lack the ability to make use of it because the systems for collecting, storing, and analyzing that information don’t mesh with each other, many officials who work with, or in, K-12 education say. That lack of (read) Reynoldsburg takes over charter e-school Columbus Dispatch | Columbus, OH The Reynoldsburg school board is taking over the charter e-school that it placed on probation last year. In a 3-1 vote at last night’s meeting, board members removed the governing board for the Virtual Community School of Ohio and replaced it with five new members. School board member Ryan Brzezinski was (read) Flipped Classroom 2.0: Competency Learning With Videos Mind/Shift The flipped classroom model generated a lot of excitement initially, but more recently some educators – even those who were initial advocates – have expressed disillusionment with the idea of assigning students to watch instructional videos at home and work on problem solving and practice in class. Biggest (read) iCademy is new online K-12 charter school from LSSU Upper Peninsula’s Second Wave (MI) Charter schools are nothing new for Upper Peninsula universities; they are located all over the state. But the latest one chartered by Lake Superior State University is different. It’s a K-12, public, free, online school operated by a nonprofit. Called iCademy, the school will open in August, with enrollment opening (read) State moratorium could halt Fox River Valley virtual school Daily Chronicle | DeKalb, IL The Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox River Valley will be delayed for a year if Gov. Pat Quinn signs into law a moratorium on charter schools like it. On Tuesday, the Illinois Senate passed House Bill 494, which would put a moratorium on the creation of new virtual charter schools until April 1. The Illinois State (read) In Support of the Common Core Vander Ark on Innovation Common Core State Standards are thoughtful expressions of college- and career-ready expectations in reading, writing and math. The common expectations–adopted voluntarily by 45 states–are already unleashing innovation, making it easier for teachers to share resources and strategies, and improving (read) ‘Flipped classroom’ overturns traditional teaching method Medill Reports | Chicago, IL Two math teachers at Evanston Township High School have turned their class upside down, an approach an expert says could help students perform better in the state standard tests. Math teacher Sachin Jhunjhunwala, who has worked in various technology companies for many years, said he knew the (read) Khan Academy Receives Financial Support to Focus on Common Core Digital Education Fueled by a $2.2 million grant, Khan Academy will develop online content and tools over the next two years to help teachers and students meet the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. The popular producer of free online content already has a large volume of practice materials and videos that are (read) Macmillan Education Partners with Knewton Press Release Today, Macmillan Education, a leading global publisher of English Language teaching (ELT), school curriculum, digital and online materials, announced a partnership with leading adaptive learning company Knewton. Macmillan – widely recognized for its 150-year history of innovative publishing and award (read) Something missing? Send news items and other information of interest to joglesby@inacol.org… Do you know someone who should be reading  Plugged In? Please share the following link and ask them to subscribe: http://www.inacol.org/news/plugged-in/ - Thank you! Find out more about iNACOL and our mission on: Stay connected:

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Plugged In | 05.21.13 | (powered by iNACOL)

A final word from the neo-liberals…

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PLUGGED IN  05.21.13 powered by iNACOL… News… Flipping classrooms increases collaboration, higher thinking News & Observer | Raleigh, NC This month Luke Miles, eighth-grade social studies teacher at Durant Road Middle School, was named Wake County Teacher of the Year and was praised for using the flipped classroom technique. Instead of giving lectures, he records short videos explaining the material that his students watch for homework. (read) Individual hearings set for District 300, others in virtual charter school appeal Northwest Herald | Crystal Lake, IL A state commission’s recent decision to grant individual appeal hearings for all Fox Valley school districts affected by a proposed virtual charter school was in response to a misunderstanding, said the commission’s chairman. Representatives from the 18 school districts that stand to lose tax dollars (read) Consultant tells Billerica School Committee to reorganize tech. department, add staff Billerica Minuteman | Billerica, MA Educational Technology Consultant Thomas Plati, who is also director of educational technology and assessment for the town of Lexington, presented his assessment of the technology status of the Billerica Public Schools. According to Plati’s report, “The goal of this study was to review the current (read) Distance learning at the fingertips Cape Cod Times | Hyannis, MA On a recent Monday in the online learning classroom at Nauset Regional High School, Parker Lang, 14, of Brewster designed a video game while 16-year-old sophomore Abby Bausch prepared for an MCAS science test. As a teacher’s voice filled her ear phones with information about parasitism, Bausch watched a (read) Kansas Virtual Academy Goes Online Next School Year Press Release Kansas families now have access to a new and innovative public school option with the announcement of the Kansas Virtual Academy (KSVA). Offered by the Spring Hill School District, the online public school will serve students statewide in grades K-6 beginning next year. “Spring Hill School District is proud to (read) Inquiry Learning Vs. Standardized Content: Can They Coexist? Mind/Shift As Common Core State Standards are incorporated from school to school across the country, educators are discussing their value. It may seem that educators are arguing over whether the CCSS will roll out as a substitute No Child Left Behind curriculum or as an innovative guide to encourage inquiry rather than (read) Study: Free Computers Don’t Close The Rich-Poor Education Gap TechCrunch According to a new study, we really don’t have to worry too much about the nearly 1 in 4 children without access to FarmVille at home. “Our results indicate that computer ownership alone is unlikely to have much of an impact on short-term schooling outcomes for low-income children,” report Robert W. Fairlie and (read) New ‘MOOC’ Teacher PD Project Enlists Prominent Museums Digital Education When Coursera begins providing “massively open online courses” focused on teacher professional development this year, the Web-based offerings on the menu will be supplied not only by schools of education, but also by a number of the country’s best-known museums. Museums have been (read) EdX Expands xConsortium to Asia and Doubles in Size with Addition of 15 New Global Institutions Press Release EdX, the not-for-profit online learning initiative composed of the leading global institutions of the xConsortium, today announced another doubling of its university membership with the addition of its first Asian institutions and further expansion in the Ivy League. The xConsortium is gaining 15 prestigious (read) What Professors Can Learn From ‘Hard Core’ MOOC Students Chronicle of Higher Education If people who sit at their computers for tens of hours each week zapping virtual monsters are hard-core gamers, then massive open online courses have led to a similarly obsessed breed of online student: the hard-core learner. Nearly 100 students using Coursera, the largest provider of MOOCs, have (read) Education Publishing Associations to Merge Marketplace K-12 The Association of Educational Publishers and the school division of the Association of American Publishers are planning to merge operations, marking the union of a pair of leading voices in the K-12 industry. The two groups said in a statement released Monday that the new alliance would combine ( read) Something missing? Send news items and other information of interest to joglesby@inacol.org… Do you know someone who should be reading Plugged In? Please share the following link and ask them to subscribe: http://www.inacol.org/news/plugged-in/ - Thank you!     Find out more about iNACOL and our mission on: Stay connected:

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Plugged In | 05.20.13 | (powered by iNACOL)

A final neo-liberal note for the day…

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PLUGGED IN  05.20.13 powered by iNACOL… Upcoming iNACOL webinars…   > 05.21 Webinar: Research in Review - Examining K-12 Online Teachers Educational Practices News… The Surprising Ways BYOD, Flipped Classrooms, and 1-to-1 Are Being Used in the Special Ed Classroom THE Journal The latest compilation from the US Department of Education (from 2010-2011) reports that about 13 percent of public school enrollment consists of students served by special education programs. That count has pretty much stayed the same for the last 13 years. What’s different now is that, as technology (read) Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy’s first graduating class turns their tassels, earns their diplomas KJRH | Tulsa, OK The first graduating class of the Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy accepted their diplomas in Tulsa Saturday. Thirty-one of the senior class’ 50 graduates turned their tassels and tossed their caps in front of hundreds of friends and family members at the Tulsa Event Center. The charter, established in 2011 (read) Pennsylvania cyber charter schools rally to oppose funding cuts Press Release A large contingent of PA Cyber Charter School students, parents, teachers and staff were among a thousand-plus charter school supporters who cheered speakers and swarmed through the Capitol building to speak with their legislators at the 7th annual Day on the Hill Rally on Tuesday, May 14. Elected (read) Virtual school finalist pool changes slightly The Recorder | Greenfield, MA The Greenfield School Committee will interview Tuesday seven finalists vying for spots on the town’s new cyber school’s governing board – but the pool has changed slightly with two late additions and two withdrawals. Attorney and former mayoral candidate Edward Berlin and Town Councilor Mark Maloni (read) D.C. charter school would teach all but math and English online The Examiner | Washington, DC A controversial computer-based learning model is competing with eight other proposals to be one of the next charter schools approved for the District. The proposed Nexus Academy of DC, run by a subsidiary of publishing giant Pearson, would offer grades 9 through 12 in Ward 2, eventually serving up to 600 (read) Bradley County has 4 graduates in its first Virtual School class Cleveland Daily Banner | Cleveland, TN The first class of graduates from Bradley County Virtual School walked across the stage to receive their high school diplomas on Friday. This was the first year Bradley County Schools offered the predominately online school to students. The four virtual school graduates joined Reach Adult High School and (read) Common-Core Testing Consortium Hires Tech Director Digital Education One of the two major consortia designing tests to match the Common Core State Standards has hired a technology director to try to make sure the ambitious online testing rollout and implementation goes as planned. Brandt Redd was recently named chief technology officer of Smarter Balanced Assessment (read) Commentary: Creative destruction meets higher education Washington Post | Washington, DC I was invited to weigh in during the opening general session at the Education Technology Industry Summit in San Francisco this month, hosted by the Software & Information Industry Association. The topic: “What’s Next” in education. As a technology venture capital investor and parent of both a college student and (read) Low-residency programs blend online, campus classes Boston Globe | Boston, MA Joe Lane, juggling a job and family, wanted to get an MBA, but didn’t like the idea of doing a program entirely online. Then he found a solution: Babson College’s Fast Track MBA, a program combining online learning with face-to-face classes that meet for 2½ days every seven weeks at the Wellesley campus (read) MOOCs aren’t the only kind of online course stirring debate on college campuses GigaOm Over the past couple of months, massive open online course (MOOC) providers have been the focus of dissension on some college campuses. But now online learning company 2U is getting some pushback of its own. Last fall, the company, which has partnered with several leading universities for online (read) CEOs Want Hard-Working, Decision-Making Team Players Vander Ark on Innovation A survey of chief executives indicates that 92% say education is very or the most important national competitiveness issue.  But the survey, conducted by the The Business Council and The Conference Board, isn’t a flattering picture of U.S. education. Three quarters of the CEOs think U.S. higher (read) PhillyInc: Penn’s new ed-tech incubator a bit different Philadelphia Inquirer | Philadelphia, PA Does Philadelphia have room for one more specialized business incubator? It may, indeed, if enough education- technology entrepreneurs choose to take the plunge into what the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education calls its new Education Design Studio Fund. Even the name suggests (read) Creating Adaptive, Personalized, Effective and Addictive Education System for the Next Century Forbes I suggested in my first article that our education system is not broken but has simply become obsolete. It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do but unfortunately, our needs have changed. We can’t just make incremental improvement to the current education system to somehow make it work for the next (read) Something missing? Send news items and other information of interest to joglesby@inacol.org… Do you know someone who should be reading Plugged In?  Please share the following link and ask them to subscribe: http://www.inacol.org/news/plugged-in/ - Thank you!     Find out more about iNACOL and our mission on: Stay connected:

This email was sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com   This email was sent by: North American Council for Online Learning dba International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) 1934 Old Gallows Road, Suite 350, Vienna, VA, 22182-4040, United States   We respect your right to privacy – view our policy

iNACOL Webinar 5/21: Examining Educational Practices of Online Teachers for Effectiveness and Student Success

Fro today’s inbox…

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iNACOL Webinar Examines Educational Practices of Online Teachers for Effectiveness and Student Success The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) will present a webinar on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET exploring the educational practices of K-12 online teachers for effectiveness and success in critical need Algebra I and Biology classes. The webinar, part of iNACOL’s monthly Research in Review presentation series, will feature Drs. Bonnie Swan and Michael Hynes of the University of Central Florida, and Beth Miller of Florida Virtual School. iNACOL President Susan Patrick said, “Online or in a classroom, a student’s teacher has greater impact on their learning than any other factor. This research examines the relationship between educational practices of online teachers, methods and course completion rates. This research provides an important look at the correlation between these elements for teaching courses critical to a student’s success.” The researchers aim to add to the existing knowledge to address and examine the educational practices and backgrounds for the teacher workforce in a large virtual school, and how these factors relate to student satisfaction and course completion. This webinar is free, but please register at to receive details and login confirmation by email. Speakers: Dr. Bonnie Swan, Director/Evaluator, Program Evaluation and Educational Research Group (PEER), College of Education, University of Central Florida Dr. Michael Hynes, Professor and Director for our School of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership, College of Education, University of Central Florida Beth Miller, Senior Manager, Professional Learning, Florida Virtual School You can find more information about this and other iNACOL webinars HERE. To ensure that you receive login instructions on the morning of the webinar, please add (info@inacol.org) to your safe sender list. Sincerely, Rob Darrow, Ed.D. Director of Member Services International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)

This email was sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com This email was sent by: North American Council for Online Learning dba International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) 1934 Old Gallows Road, Suite 350, Vienna, VA, 22182-4040, United States